Homework:

Download 5 plugins and put them on the blog

Mycenae-Alpha by Iannis Xenakis

"By 1979, he had devised a computer system called UPIC, which could translate graphical images into musical results, wrote Andrew Hugill in 2008.^[20] "Xenakis had originally trained as an architect, so some of his drawings, which he called 'arborescences', resembled both organic forms and architectural structures." These drawings' various curves and lines that could be interpreted by UPIC as real time instructions for the sound synthesis process. The drawing is, thus, rendered into a composition. Mycenae-Alpha was the first of these pieces he created using UPIC as it was being perfected.

MOOG and the Arp Synthesizer

After reading about Moog, I looked up some of the musicians he worked with on YouTube. I saw clips of them back in their glory days hammering away at keyboards and playing with electronic sounds. Reading about Moog actually helped lead me back through parts of electronic music history since I just started looking into these people he worked with. And now, we have the same sounds available at our hands, but on a portable laptop instead of a big piece of equipment like these Arp synthesizers. Moog said something like he is the toolmaker and artists use his tools. So, the convergence of these two types of creative minds has unleashed fantastic results. Moog created the tools and then artists like Zappa, Pink Floyd, Sun Ra, Parliament-Funkadelic etc. used these tools to create music that would have not come into existence without his “tools”. So, the computer is just a continuation of this process. It is a tool that can be used by artists to create new results. On one side, people are creating programs like Ableton Live, Cecilia, and PD and on the other, artists are now using these tools to create what would have been unimaginable before.

http://120years.net/machines/arp/index.html Arp synthesizers

Sound Pieces

I really enjoyed the way Brian’s piece developed throughout. He really kept changing it up by bringing in new sounds and changing speeds of different parts like when the voice began to quicken until it became basically an abstract sound. At one point, there was a loud sound which then merged into a new section of the piece. I liked this bridge.

I thought Mario’s piece came together quite well especially since he was actually altering the piece in real time. I liked the way the chanting was worked into the piece and the way he used voices at varying speeds to create a sense of urgency.

Matt’s piece projected a sense of eeriness. I definitely felt the spookiness and imagined witches and such. With more time, a little more mixing or altering of the sounds would make the piece even stronger.

Mike was off to a good start on using key kit and such. He had some interesting sounds forming. I am very curious to hear the sounds put together into a sound piece as there will no doubt be some unexpected and intriguing results.

I enjoyed the way Jerome’s piece developed. I felt as if I was really led by sound into another world. The sound of children laughing served as a fantastic bridge into the imagination. And, I’m not sure whether it was the underlying beats or rhythm or pitches, but overall, his piece put me into a small trance. I actually felt physically affected. The only thing I’d change is to make the beginning a bit shorter.

Sound Design Week 6

Sound Synthesis

When any mechanical collision occurs, such as a fork being dropped, sound is produced. The energy from the collision is transferred through the air and other mediums, and if heard, into your ears. On a small scale, the collision creates sine waves. When different sine waves with variations are added, or are existing in the same place at the same time, they produce more complex waves with a sine function derivation. The environment the collision is produced in modulates, or changes, the wave or "sound". The basic idea behind sound synthesis is to produce a sound wave with a machine that would have been naturally produced by a collision, and then manipulate it like the environment does.

Generally, a single "sound" will include a fundamental frequency, and any number of overtones. The frequencies of these overtones are either integer multiples of the fundamental frequency, or integer fractions thereof (subharmonics). This study of how complex waveforms can be alternately represented is covered in Laplace and Fourier transforms.

When natural tonal instruments' sounds are analyzed in the frequency domain (as on a spectrum analyzer), the spectra of their sounds will exhibit amplitude spikes at each of the fundamental tone's harmonics. Some harmonics may have higher amplitudes than others. The specific set of harmonic-vs-amplitude pairs is known as a sound's harmonic content.

When analyzed in the time domain, a sound does not necessarily have the same harmonic content throughout the duration of the sound. Typically, high-frequency harmonics will die out more quickly than the lower harmonics. For a synthesized sound to "sound" right, it requires accurate reproduction of the original sound in both the frequency domain and the time domain.

Percussion instruments and rasps have very low harmonic content, and exhibit spectra that are comprised mainly of noise shaped by the resonant frequencies of the structures that produce the sounds. However, the resonant properties of the instruments (the spectral peaks of which are also referred to as formants) also shape an instrument's spectrum (esp. in string, wind, voice and other natural instruments).

In most conventional synthesizers, for purposes of re-synthesis, recordings of real instruments are composed of several components.

These component sounds represent the acoustic responses of different parts of the instrument, the sounds produced by the instrument during different parts of a performance, or the behavior of the instrument under different playing conditions (pitch, intensity of playing, fingering, etc.) The distinctive timbre, intonation and attack of a real instrument can therefore be created by mixing together these components in such a way as resembles the natural behavior of the real instrument. Nomenclature varies by synthesizer methodology and manufacturer, but the components are often referred to as oscillators or partials. A higher fidelity reproduction of a natural instrument can typically be achieved using more oscillators, but increased computational power and human programming is required, and most synthesizers use between one and four oscillators by default.



Schematic of ADSR


Schematic of ADSR


One of the most important parts of any sound is its amplitude envelope. This envelope determines whether the sound is percussive, like a snare drum, or persistent, like a violin string. Most often, this shaping of the sound's amplitude profile is realized with an "ADSR" (Attack Decay Sustain Release) envelope model applied to control oscillator volumes. Apart from Sustain, each of these stages is modeled by a change in volume (typically exponential). Although the oscillations in real instruments also change frequency, most instruments can be modeled well without this refinement. This refinement is necessary to generate a vibrato.


Additive Synthesis

Additive synthesis is a technique of audio synthesis which creates musical timbre.

The timbre of an instrument is composed of multiple harmonics or partials, in different quantities, that change over time. Additive synthesis emulates such timbres by combining numerous waveforms pitched to different harmonics, with a different amplitude envelope on each, along with inharmonic artifacts. Usually, this involves a bank of oscillators tuned to multiples of the base frequency. Often, each oscillator has its own customizable volume envelope, creating a realistic, dynamic sound that changes over time.


Frequency Modulation Synthesis


In audio and music frequency modulation synthesis (or FM synthesis) is a form of audio synthesis where the timbre of a simple waveform is changed by frequency modulating it with a modulating frequency that is also in the audio range, resulting in a more complex waveform and a different-sounding tone. The frequency of an oscillator is altered or distorted, "in accordance with the amplitude of a modulating signal. For synthesizing harmonic sounds, the modulating signal must have a harmonic relationship to the original carrier signal. As the amount of frequency modulation increases, the sound grows progressively more complex. Through the use of modulators with frequencies that are non-integer multiples of the carrier signal (i.e., non harmonic), bell-like dissonant and percussive sounds can easily be created.


Robert Moog

Robert Arthur Moog was an American pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer. Moog is the most influencial person in the history of electronic music.

Glitch

Glitch originated in Germany with the musical work and labels of Achim Szepanski[4], who later gained popularity through the collaboration with Sebastian Meissner under the moniker "Random Inc.". While the movement initially slowly gained members (including bands like Oval), the techniques of Glitch later quickly spread around the world as many artists — including bands such as Kid 606 and Autechre — followed suit. Yasunao Tone used damaged CDs in his Techno Eden performance in 1985. Trumpeter Jon Hassell's 1994 album Dressing For Pleasure — a dense mesh of funky trip hop and jazz — features several songs with the sound of skipping CDs layered into the mix.

Oval's Wohnton, produced in 1993, helped define the genre by adding ambient aesthetics to it. Though the music of Markus Popp's band (Oval) may be the first in which the techniques of Musique Concrete were applied to the subtleties of Ambient, glitch is also informed by techno and industrial music. Turntablist Christian Marclay had been incorporating the use of scratched or otherwise damaged vinyl records into his sets since the 1970s; it is the rapid advance in technology and expansion of thought behind music that has allowed glitch to adopt this "broken" sound and use it as a stylistic marker.

Phase Vocoder

At the heart of the phase vocoder is the STFT (short-time Fourier transform), typically coded using fast Fourier transforms. The STFT converts a time domain representation of sound into a time-frequency representation (the "analysis" phase), allowing modifications to the amplitudes or phases of specific frequency components of the sound, before resynthesis of the frequency domain representation into the time domain by the inverse STFT. The time scale of the resynthesis does not have to be the same as the time scale of the analysis, allowing for high-quality time-scale modification of the original sound file.

Xenakis

Xenakis pioneered electronic, computer music, the application of mathematics, statistics, and physics to music and music theory, and the integration of sound and architecture. He used techniques related to probability theory, stochastic processes, statistics, statistical mechanics, group theory, game theory, set theory, and other branches of mathematics and physics in his compositions. He integrated music with architecture, designing music for pre-existing spaces, and designing spaces to be integrated with specific music compositions and performances. He integrated both with political commentary. He viewed compositions as reification and formal structures of abstract ideas, not as ends, to be later incorporated into families of compositions, "a form of composition which is not the object in itself, but an idea in itself, that is to say, the beginnings of a family of compositions."

People's Pieces

Granted I'm working from some hazy memory while I write this so it will pretty much be very general recollections.

I unfortunately got to class late and came in during the end of Shamar's piece. I was actually kind of disappointed because what I heard really intrigued me with the layering of live recorded sound and the mixed loops. I wanted to hear the piece from the beginnig to listen to the progression of layering. Mario's piece immediately said 'dance' to me,or maybe my pre-knowledge of him being a dancer colored my impression. either way the rhythmical pulsing seemed like something that would accommodate a composed movement piece with it's rise and fall. Matt's piece seemed like a good beginning point for the sound he wants for his play proposal. I think given more time he could tweak and mix the sounds in so that it sounds more full and fleshed out. I owe alot of the roughness to the late stage he got his computer and have full confidence he'll be able to move it into a more polished direction. Mike's 'piece' was still in that experimental stage of working with the new technology so I really wasn't able to get too much of an impression as to an actual direction he was going in other than playing with the idea of generative music via MIDI files. I think I missed everyone else'.

Virtual Studio Technology

Steinberg's Virtual Studio Technology (VST) is an interface for integrating software audio synthesizer and effect plugins with audio editors and hard-disk recording systems. VST and similar technologies use Digital Signal Processing to simulate traditional recording studio hardware with software. Thousands of plugins exist, both commercial and freeware, and VST is supported by a large number of audio applications. The technology can be licensed from its creator, Steinberg.

First Designs

Brian- Very interesting and definitely gave me the feeling of a carnival on acid. Love the movement of the sound and progression which told a specific story.

Shamar- Great integration of the different sounds, the design was interesting every step of the way and made me want to listen to more.

Mario- Is fantastic to see the way in which you manipulated the different sounds and to see how they affect the movement in your dance piece.

Mike- Interesting start and showcase on how to use the different programs to transform a specific sound.

Jerome- Love the story the whole piece told and the compound effect that each sound had on the whole emotional framework of the listener. I did feel that some of the sections were a tad bit too repetitive but i can definitely see how this design could be a story on its on even without dancing or actors.

Matt (My design)- after listening to everyone elses design, i realized that there needs to be more depth to my design and that i need to experiment with some of the sound synthesizers and find a way to surprise my audience and give more variety to the design.